Page 26 of A Kiss to Stop a Wedding
‘More than enough, sir. After all, it is not as if we are being married in an abbey.’
‘I hope you are not disappointed.’
‘What, that we are to be married here, where I will know practically everyone? I am very well pleased with the arrangement.’
‘So, too, am I.’
He released her and walked over to the mirror, where he studied his reflection before carefully pushing a stray lock of hair back into place. It was a conceit, but a very small one, thought Flora, and she turned away so that he should not see her smile.
‘Aunt would like you to take dinner with us,’ she told him, critically regarding her flower arrangement. ‘She asked me to persuade you.’
‘Alas, Flora, I cannot. I have much to do.’ She heard him approach and felt his hands on her shoulders. ‘I wish I could remain in Whilton longer, but there is business in London that requires my attention.’
‘Morebusiness?’ She sighed as she tweaked an errant dahlia back into place ‘I thought Whilton Hall was to be our principal home, but you seem to spend most of your time in the capital.’
‘I must be there when Parliament is sitting.’ She felt his lips rest briefly on her bare shoulder. ‘When we are married I shall spend a great deal more time here, I promise you, but this business will not wait.’
‘Would that business concern Mr Talacre?’ she asked, knowing full well the question was unwelcome.
‘That need not concern you, Flora.’
‘But itdoesconcern me, Quentin.’
‘Talacre is nothing, my dear.’
‘I do not agree. Having met him—’
Smiling, he put a finger on her lips to silence her.
‘Forgive me, Flora, but you have spent your life here in Whilton. You really must give me credit for possessing a little more worldly knowledge than you. I have met men like Talacre before. He is a fraudster, a charlatan. Why, who is to say that these gardens he talks of even exist? Or, if they do, they are probably nothing more than a patch of boggy land. No, no, my dear, you should put the fellow out of your mind. Will you do that for me?’
When she did not reply he said again, ‘Flora?’
She turned back to face him. ‘Why did you invite Mr Talacre to dinner, if you think so little of him?’
‘To punish his audacity. The man deserved to be put in his place.’
‘You were most impolite to him, Quentin. You were picking at him all evening.’
He looked amused. ‘Is that what you thought I was doing?’
‘I know it was,’ she said firmly. ‘Little barbs, designed to disparage.’
‘No one else thought so, but then, they do not take such a great interest in Mr Talacre as you do.’
She looked him in the eye and said, coolly, ‘It is merely that I abhor bad manners, Quentin. You demean yourself and your name.’
Her words hit home, as she had known they would. The Viscount was very proud of his lineage and he flushed angrily. Flora waited, wondering if he might lash out at her. She had never been afraid to speak her mind and until now the Viscount had always said how much he admired her for that, but she had never before criticised his behaviour.
He said coldly, ‘You are being ridiculous, Flora. I was merely exchanging friendly raillery with our guest.’
‘You were mocking him at every turn. It was subtlydone, but Mr Talacre knew it, only he was too much of a gentleman to show affront.’
‘He is no gentleman!’ the Viscount sneered. ‘The fellow has no birth, no breeding, and he came to me with lies and false evidence, hoping to take from me what is rightfully mine! That I will not allow.’
She shook her head. ‘Then why did you invite him to dine, when you are clearly at odds?’
The brief angry outburst was over and he merely curled his lip before replying.
